KEY POINTS

• The Dangote education investment targets 155,000 students.
• The Dangote education investment focuses on long-term training.
• The Dangote education investment reinforces support for Nigerian schools.

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man and chairman of the Dangote Group, laid out a plan to commit $700 million to Nigerian education over the next decade. He disclosed the initiative at the 2025 Doha Forum in Qatar.

He said the new funding will reach more than 155,000 students in secondary schools and universities. His view is that the investment can reduce the number of out-of-school children and expand access to skills that can raise household incomes and support broader economic growth.

Dangote education investment and regional growth

During a panel session with Bill Gates and Sheikha Al Mayassa, Dangote spoke about how private capital and philanthropy can shift access to learning and strengthen long-term growth across Africa. “In Africa, we have about 1.4 billion people, so partnership is important,” he said.

He described how cooperation across borders gives room for sustained development. He noted that the region faces overlapping challenges, and he sees education as one of the pressure points that needs long-term attention.

Dangote pointed to his previous work with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a partnership that focused heavily on efforts to eliminate polio in Nigeria. He said the upcoming launch of the $700 million fund is meant to address one of the continent’s most urgent concerns: training.

“We have a lot of children out of school,” he said. “We will run the fund for ten years and then review.” He added that the Dangote Petrochemical project has trained more than 50,000 Nigerians to support its 160,000-barrel-per-day refinery. Many of these workers, he said, will continue to play key roles as the refinery grows.

Building on a long philanthropic record

With an estimated net worth of $30 billion, Dangote has built West Africa’s largest industrial group, with interests in cement, sugar, salt, petrochemicals, and refining. He endowed his foundation with $1.25 billion in 2014, making it the largest private foundation in sub-Saharan Africa.

Since 1994, the foundation has invested in health, education, and economic development across Africa. Its programs include scholarships, school construction, vocational training, hospital support, and food aid for communities hit by disasters and conflict.

According to Billionaire Africa, the foundation has also backed education projects in Nigeria with N1 billion ($688,700) for universities. The support includes N500 million ($344,000) for a business school at Bayero University, N100 million ($68,800) for the proposed Otuoke University in Bayelsa, and N1.2 billion ($826,400) for dormitories that house 2,160 students at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria.

In April, the foundation expanded its $10 million National Food Intervention Program. It distributed rice to households in Abuja and Kogi State. The effort aims to ease food insecurity as access to basic staples grows more difficult across the country.